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These are a couple of pictures of my cat who I adopted from my local animal shelter; the Little Shelter, Huntington NY, which is a no-kill animal shelter.

Rescue Maine Coon “Puffy”

I adopted him as a kitten in 1996. He is a Maine Coon cat. It all began when I went to the animal shelter to look for a new friend. I asked one of the volunteers there if I could check out the cats. She said: “Sure go in, look around and take your time”.

So I walked into the cattery where there were about 200 other cats, some were roaming free, some were perched on jungle gyms and some were caged. I walked around for about 20 minutes checking out all the cats and as I was walking past one of the caged cats he reached through his cage and grabbed the sleeve of my jacket.

I turned around to see what my jacket was hooked on and saw a young cat/kitten with his paw extended out of his cage with his paw hooked onto my jacket. When I looked at him he meowed at me with the cutest baby meow.

That was when I had realized I found a new friend. So I filled out the application, paid the $40 adoption fee and took him home with me. I named him “Puffy”.

At first he seemed content in his new home but after about 3 days I noticed that he wasn’t eating. So I called the shelter and they told me to bring him back so they could give him a check-up. So I brought Puffy back but they couldn’t find anything obviously wrong with him and told me to leave him there overnight so they could give him some I.V. fluids and observe him.

The next day I went back to pick him up and the volunteer at the shelter told me that he was doing good and healthy. She then suggested that Puffy might feel better if he had a friend and informed me that 2 of his litter-mates were in the same shelter. So I asked to see his 2 litter-mates.

Tiger and Puffy

Both of the litter-mates were handsome Maine Coons. My rental agreement, at that time, only allowed me a maximum of 2 cats so I had the tough choice of which one to take home. I chose a orange and brown tabby. So I took him home with me and Puffy.

I named the new kitten “Tiger”. By the end of the day Puffy was eating and acting normal again so it finally dawned on me that Puffy missed his brother!!

For the following 15 years they were inseparable. Both were medium size Maine Coons. Both wonderful cats. On august 23rd 2011 Tiger passed away. Again Puffy began grieving the loss of his brother, Tiger.

Puffy ate very little for the following 2 weeks and then began to come around again. Puffy is still alive and well with the exception of 2 hematomas that developed (one on each ear). One ear, the right side, was operable and was taken care of but the left ear was not as I was advised by the vet.

Puffy is still able to hear very good and even still likes to play. He is a great lap cat and alarm clock. If I sleep too late, he will wake me up by sitting on my chest and will lick my eyelids until I wake up. I hope anybody who reads this will realize what amazing friends cats can be

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Comments

Puffy – the Cat Who Chose Me — 12 Comments

Thanks Kevin. I enjoyed your story. It has a tender, gentle and loving feel about it. Puffy looks big and a well loved cat. He has a very strong looking face. I like the bit about how important it was to have his sibling with him. This is something that people should recognise; that it is probably best to have two cats who are siblings. They can keep each other company and they will get along nicely.

puffy and tiger used to play fight a lot.I’m not %100 sure but I think that while they were play fighting,tiger scrached puffys ears.puffy then developed a blood blister in his right ear,which I took him to the vet for and had that ear operated on.The left ear developed the same hematoma about a month later.I wanted to have that ear fixed,but the vet told me that he did’nt beleive it would benefit puffy to have another operation given his age and told me that it would not effect his health to leave the left ear alone.so I did’nt want to stress puffy out.so I left the left side alone.I do give him regular ear cleanings by using a cotton ball and some ear cleaning solution regurally.Puffy does not have ear mites.that was my first suspission when I noticed the first hematoma on his right ear….I want to thank you for giving the world the ability to see puffy and tiger and read their story….kevin R.

I love to show the world cats that are unknown, which are loved and special. It really gives me pleasure to show off the “real cats” of the world. Cats that live with you, and me, and many other visitors.

I loved your story Kevin, what gorgeous cats! Yes Puffy must have been lonely and it was really good of you to go back to the Shelter and adopt Tiger too.
So sorry you lost Tiger, I hope you have Puffy around for a long time yet.
Puffy’s ears reminded me of when I was vet nursing, we often got cats and dogs with haematomas of their ears, but usually just one ear.
Our vets used to make a slit and drain the blood then sew a small button onto the wound so it didn’t fill up again, it always fascinated me. They’d come back and have the button taken off when the wound had healed.

Wow. An amazing story. My cat Nicky was actually my sister’s kitten. He being a Maine Coon, hated her hands on cuddle approach to cat ownership. He would come and hide behind my feet under the couch. I hid him several times before finally telling my sister the truth. After that she tried not to be so touchy feely and Nicky decided I was his boy. (I was 12). At 1 yr he was about 18 lbs. and who knows how long. He would come and climb on my chest, place both paws on my cheeks and then touch my nose with his cold, wet nose to wake me up! I just can’t believe how similar our Maine Coons are.

Both kitties are gorgeous. I’m glad Puffy picked the right owner. 16 years! That is just amazing. Good for you.

Wow thanks for sharing Kevin. I called my cat Red ‘Puffpuff’ when he got older and more puffy. He wasn’t a Maine Coon but he was similar in many ways. It’s terribly sad to lose a cat. It would seem it was not that long ago that Tiger died. I’m sure it is/was hard on you both. What a wonderful companion you have in Puffy. You love of cats really shows. I wish you and Puffy lots more time together. What a beautiful cat. Tiger too.